If changing batteries is such a pain, is there any estimation of how many hours battery life you'll get? I imagine that would vary wildly based on the headphones you're powering, but are we talking a year, two years, etc.?

Good question, It is strange that some companies loos the battery out of sight. It is either difficult to replace or difficult to recharge or not holding a good charge.I am interested to see how the V3 holds up.

I just got a used V2 and am enjoying it a lot. I do have a question which may have already been addressed on here. Everytime I have used it so far, I have noticed after 20-30 minutes a very sudden and dramatic increase in sound quality. I know that tube amps turn on slowly and also take a while to warm up, but I guess I thought the sound quality would just gradually increase.

But with what I am hearing, the amp sounds a little flat and lifeless and I am wondering what is wrong, and then, BAM, the sound just fills in. It is like going from 2-D to 3-D with fuller tone and a much more natural and lifelike sound. Is this typical of this amp or of tube amps in general? It has been a while since I had tubes in my system, and I do not remember hearing such a sudden change in SQ once the tubes have fully warmed up.

Boy does it sound good after I finally reach warp speed!

Edit added: I think I figured out what was happening. It turns out I had a loose connection in the aftermarket cable feeding my HD650s. So every now and then the connection would work and the sound would jump way up in quality. I am back to the stock cable and so far the sudden shift in SQ has not happened again.

Yesterday, I hooked up my TDS202 Sound Enhancer between my Tera Player and my Continental. It sounds amazing using my Beyer DT770-LE which did not sound as good when I was just using the Continental without the TDS. I do not know why it made such a big difference, but the sound is now crystal clear with amazing delicacy and realistic and natural sounding instruments. It makes for a very nice contrast to my usual Tera-iCAN-HD650 setup which has more of a full bodied, visceral sound. Kind of like the difference between a female figure skater and a male figure skater. They both have incredible speed, grace and fluidity, but the HD650s are like the male figure skater in that there is a more muscled athleticism to the sound, wheras the Continental/DT770 combo is more delicate and beguiling in its own way. I like them both a lot.

You might consider that RMAF was last week and the ALO guys are big participants; they may have been a little busy and are likely behind on answering emails. I'd give them another chance on e-mal or give them a call next week.

Here are the measurements I got (these are clean numbers - before clipping):

740mW @ 16 ohm

500mW @ 32 ohm

440mW @ 50 ohm

250mW @ 300 ohm

125mW @ 600 ohm

With a 32-ohm load, there is 3dB attenuation at 20Hz. There is very little attenuation at 20Hz with > 50 ohm headphones.

I hope this helps clear things up regarding the output power.

Best regards,

Vinnie

Thank you so much for this info.

There should be a disclaimer on the first post for everyone to skip all the angry and negative posts in the first ten pages, which doesn't die out until page 15..
I felt like I was in middle of a war zone crawling thru all the mud slinging accusations and misinformation..

The reality is that this is one of the absolute best sounding portable amps.
The reason how I come to this conclusion is that it beat out everything I owned before regarless of size including an O2 amp and a little dot mkIII...(!!)..

Quote:

Originally Posted by zorin

I hope [probably in vain] that ALO Audio made the battery to be replaceable and not glued in by an industrial strength superglue. If the battery were to be replaceable then there would be no worries about the battery life. As it is now the Continental has a limited lifespan. Because of the heat from the tube the battery's life is shortened. I totally do not understand why in the first version and the V2 the battery could not be replaced. Is my hope that V3 is different misplaced ?

After owning this the V2 for over a month I have to say it never truly gets hot but only gets very warm after hours use but still not anything near what would be considered "hot".Edited by Maxx134 - 11/25/13 at 2:52pm